Welch Leaves Reuters, Fortune After Twitter-Post Backlash

Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric Co., speaks at the World Business Forum in New York in 2010. Welch said, "This White House in this administration has not been friendly to business." Photographer: Craig Ruttle/Bloomberg

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Welch, the former chief
executive officer of General Electric Co., will stop writing for
Thomson Reuters Corp. and Fortune magazine after backlash to his
Twitter post suggesting President Barack Obama’s administration
manipulated employment data for political gain.

Welch sent an e-mail to Reuters Editor-in-Chief Steve Adler
and Fortune Managing Editor Andy Serwer saying he and his wife,
Suzy, were terminating their contract and would no longer
contribute to Reuters or Fortune. The print title had agreed to
pick up the column. A Reuters spokeswoman, Barb Burg, confirmed
Welch was leaving.

The move followed criticism by Serwer of Welch’s comments
on the Oct. 5 U.S. unemployment report and a Reuters story
quoting a money manager who described Welch’s statements as
laughable, Fortune said. Obama’s administration denounced
Welch’s claims as baseless.

“Unfortunately for those who would like me to pipe down,
the 7.8% unemployment figure released by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) last week is downright implausible,” Welch
said in an opinion article late today on the Wall Street
Journal’s website. “And that’s why I made a stink about it.”

Welch had said earlier that he and his wife were planning a
piece in the Journal, according to the e-mail, which was
confirmed by his assistant, Rosanne Badowski.

‘Better Fit’

“In terms of traction, it’s just a better fit for us,”
Welch said in the message, posted on Fortune’s website.

Welch has contributed $5,000, the maximum, to Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign and described him
on CNBC as “the most qualified leader” to seek the office in
his lifetime. His Oct. 5 Twitter message snowballed as
commentators and politicians weighed in on social-media websites
and television to endorse or dispute his view.

“Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do
anything..can’t debate so change numbers,” Welch said in the
message, posted immediately after the U.S. Labor Department
reported that the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last
month. That was the lowest since Obama took office in January
2009.

Attention Assured

Welch’s background as GE’s CEO for more than 20 years and a
business-book author assured his post would attract attention.
His message has been resent by Twitter users more than 5,100
times and he continued the criticism in interviews with the
Journal and Fox News.

The Obama administration defended the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, which computes the figures. Alan Krueger, chairman
of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told Bloomberg
Television that Welch’s remark was “irresponsible.”

Welch tempered his words during a television interview on
Oct. 5, when CNBC host Larry Kudlow said it was unrealistic to
allege the White House adjusted the data.

“Let’s hope that’s totally correct, Larry,” Welch, 76,
said. Still, he said, “This election is too important for one
number that might be corrected next month to determine the
election. I want to see a real debate about this number.”

In the Journal article, Welch said the September
unemployment rate merited “serious skepticism” because three
sets of labor-market statistics -- workforce participation,
growth in government payrolls and overall job growth -- all
reached multidecade records in the past two months.

While Welch wrote that if he could post his initial Oct. 5
message again he would do so with question marks to make clear
he was raising a question, he said, “I’m not sorry for the
heated debate that ensued.”